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I like Emilie. It looks more "dainty" than Emily. Like an Emily would maybe be a cheerleader, while an Emilie would be an artist or a poet and probably have a more whimsical personality. I can see the appeal of Emily too though, in the more classic sense. I'm just slightly biased against it because of how popular it was in my generation. Emilie also reminds me of Emilie Autumn. (I like her but if you don't, or have no opinion, it still works because the association isn't so strong that it's the only thing I can think of when I see the name. It's just the name primarily.)
Emilie seems more feminine and maybe more "pale". If they were both little girls hanging out in someone's backyard, Emilie would be the one sitting there drinking tea under a parasol while writing poetry and Emily would be skipping around, rolling down hills and picking flowers.
I like Violet Emilie, but not Marlowe. Marlowe is the opposite of dainty, so I don't think it goes all that well with Emilie.
I'd use alternate spellings of a popular name, as long as the spellings weren't too unknown. Vivienne (although I pronounce that different from Vivian), Elisabeth, and Brook are good. And Aeron / Aron for boys. Plus with something like Emilie, it's less of an alternate spelling and more a translation (like Eric, Erik, and Erich.) It's a lot nicer to say "My name is Emilie, spelled the French way" then "My name is Emmili, with 2 m's and an i". When it's a translation it just feels more 'legit' (and is more likely to be common, even if it's less common than the other form).

I prefer the look of Emilie. It feels very soft with the "ie" at the end.

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I would consider using a variant spelling of a popular name if it had the characteristics I like. For example, I MUCH prefer Vivienne to Vivian as it looks much more elegant, and Elisabeth to Elizabeth as I like the Norwegian version.

I much prefer Emily to Emilie. Despite its popularity, I really love the name. I suppose it's popular for a reason!

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I know countless Emily's and one Emilie, about 21 years old. It bugs me every time I see her name written or typed- it just doesn't look right to me.

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Generally, there are some names that I like the more common spelling of and others that I like variant (though not creative) spellings of. I prefer the less common Vivienne, Elisabeth, Haley and Juliette, for instance, but the more common Brooke, Claire, Annabelle and Lily. It really just depends on the name.

Emilie is way better than Emily. Emilie makes the naame formal and causal while Emily to me feels lowerclass. I would prefer this as a middle name too. Some combos I like are...
Taylor Emilie
Emilie Rose
Emilie Grace
Emilie Alice
Lily Emilie

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Violet Emilie: I hate Violet, love Emilie.
Marlowe Emilie: I think that it has some character, not my idea of a combo though.

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Elisabeth: Prefer this spelling to Elizabeth
Clare: Hate the name, too boring
Vivienne: To fancy! I prefer Vivian
Brook: No...

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I think Emilie is a good middle name for a gir with a unisex name such as Taylor, Allison or Sidney.

I have the same doubts about Emilie as I do about Vivienne and Claire. When perfectly acceptable English versions exist, why use the French spelling and the English pronunciation? Elisabeth would be the same, but for French read German.

This has probably been pointed out, but Emilie isn't just a variant of Emily. It's a legit spelling in a few other cultures. Still, in an English one, it probably would be misspelled although in the middle, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I prefer the look of Emily personally. I wouldn't kr8 a spelling, however, I'd use a spelling common in another language that wasn't too out there (i.e., Vivienne, Elisabeth). I much prefer them to Vivian and Elizabeth.

I don't like Emily at all. It's like Hannah's twin sister. I don't like Emilie any better, if anything it's even more white-bread and bland than Emily. I would think it was dull and bland no matter how popular or unpopular it was.

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I would not use any of the variant spellings of those other names either. I don't like any of them enough to want to use the originals anyway. Vivian is not at all common for young girls here, it is more popular for women over sixty. Vivienne is not pronounced the same as Vivian so if I did want to use it I wouldn't think of it being mistaken for Vivienne much.

I like Emilie just as much as Emily. They're a little like "country mouse, city mouse" in my mind. Emilie has an old-fashioned prairie girl feel, while Emily feels a little more "citified"--more current, a little sharper.

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I would use a spelling variant if I wanted to. My own name (Alison) has never been the most popular spelling in the US. When I was a kid, it bothered me some to look through racks of mugs or keychains and only find "Allison," but to say I got over that is an understatement. I just want the spelling variant to be well established. I'd use Gillian instead of the more popular Jillian, for example, but I'd never consider Gillyan.

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Violet Emilie is adorable.

I think Emilie looks really neat. For some reason it seems more feminine than Emily, although I would never consider Emily to be unfeminine! However, Emily is SO popular that I think it would be a mistake to use a variant spelling. I certainly wouldn't.

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I would use Claire instead of Clare because Clare isn't that common and Claire isn't that unusual. Elizabeth and Elisabeth are also both common, so both useable. I think the problem with Emily/Emilie is that Emily is REALLY popular and Emilie is practically unheard of, so the difference is much more obvious.

I think the majority of these types of spelling variants (ie not the ones with added y's or h's) look quite pretentious. Emilie included. I wouldn't use them, as it just seems like you're trying too hard.

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Emily is nice. Pretty ordinary, but totally fine.